To investigate if the suppression of abundance and activity of a mesopredator (the feral cat) by an apex predator (the dingo) has positive effects on both abundance and foraging efficiency of a desert rodent.

This study suggests that apex predators’ suppressive effects on mesopredators extend to alleviate both mesopredators’ consumptive and non-consumptive effects on prey.

Treatments:

dingo no dingo control

Response:

Alleviation of mesopredators’ non-consumptive effects could potentially extend to the demography of N. fuscus and contribute to increased abundances, if greater foraging efficiency in the presence of dingoes translates to increased survival and reproductive success.